• Bill Smith, general manager of the Twins, chatted about Delmon Young on Friday, and he kept coming back to this point: The corner outfielder is still just 23 years old. "We've got prospects in A-ball who are 22 years old, and we're raving about them," said Smith.
Young hit .288 for Tampa Bay in 2007 and .290 for the Twins last season, and yet there is a vibe within the industry that he is a falling star -- a perception that will be reinforced, perhaps, by Ron Gardenhire's comment this week that the three outfielders who are probably in the best position to start are
Denard Span,
Carlos Gomez and
Michael Cuddyer. Young told reporters afterward that he has no problem with what Gardenhire said.
"Gardy might've been trying to light a fire under him," Smith mused.
The Twins discuss offseason conditioning with all of their players as they head off for the winter, but for Young, the issue was particularly important because he was not in peak condition at season's end. He got hurt in the middle of the season, and his daily work habits were affected, Smith said. "No question, he gained some weight toward the end of the season," said Smith.
Young is now working hard on his conditioning, from all indications. "He said he's got a lot to prove next year, and we're excited about that," said Smith. "There's no question that he had a better last four months last season than his first two months. He was traded; he's been through a lot, and he just turned 23. There's a lot to come, and he's got a lot of ability.
"He's got great skills, and it's our job to get the most out of his ability."
• The Tigers have
stepped up their efforts to land
Gerald Laird, writes Jon Paul Morosi.
It tells you a lot about the state of the catching market that the Rangers keep asking for a big return on the likes of Laird, who is good defensively. But consider the back of the baseball card of Laird, now 29 years old:
- He has a career on-base percentage of .306, with a single-season high of .332 (among seasons in which he played more than 19 games).
- He has played more than 95 games in his career once.
- His career high for home runs is nine.
- He is barreling toward free agency.
• The talks between Oakland and shortstop
Rafael Furcal broke down Friday after Furcal's side rejected a multiyear offer that was essentially take it-or-leave-it from the Athletics. The market for Furcal has never really developed; if you were to draw up a list of five players who have been hurt by the economic slowdown, Furcal might be somewhere near the top of the list. The Dodgers are playing in the NL West, a division filled with teams cutting payroll -- the Padres, Rockies and D-backs -- and this has allowed L.A. to play it conservatively, as the Dodgers did earlier this week when they declined to offer Furcal arbitration. The Jays had once intended to make a strong bid for Furcal, but their payroll is now locked in place, and the Cardinals opted for a short-term solution at shortstop, trading for
Khalil Greene. The Athletics, one of the few teams with money to spend this winter, have correctly responded to Furcal's shrinking market by making a competitive offer -- but an offer far less than what Furcal's side had hoped for.
But Furcal said no, and as written here Friday, Oakland is comfortable with
Bobby Crosby as its shortstop in 2009, and will spend its available cash elsewhere; it figures that at some point the Athletics will be a fallback for one of the many corner outfielders/corner infielders/hairy-chested sluggers, such as
Adam Dunn or
Jason Giambi or
Bobby Abreu et al. Oakland's most pressing need might be for a veteran starting pitcher who can stabilize the Athletics' rotation at the outset of the season, for at least a couple of months, as the team's young starters get settled.
And where does Furcal go? Well, he's the perfect player for some big-money contender to snag for a big-money, short-term deal, but such an offer may not emerge for some time. We'll see.
• It appears that at some point
Mark Prior will probably work out a minor league deal with the Padres. Hey, the bottom line is he just needs to pitch someplace. Until that happens, nobody will know if he can bounce back.
• A number of teams have
expressed interest in
Randy Johnson, Jack Magruder writes.
•
Greg Maddux is
set to retire Monday.
• The Cardinals regard the results of
Chris Carpenter's
nerve test as "positive," Derrick Goold writes.
• The Nats
need to buy some pop, writes Thomas Boswell.
• The Pirates are
eyeing a couple of power hitters as they discuss a possible deal with the Tigers, writes Dejan Kovacevic.
•
Brian Cashman met with Mark Teixeira, writes Tyler Kepner.
Ian Kennedy has gotten
a tip from his college coach, writes Kevin Kernan.
•
Pedro Martinez plans to keep on pitching. The question about Martinez -- and this is true of a lot of older pitchers -- is whether he's still willing to pay the price, physically, in his training and preparation.
• For some O's fans,
slow and steady is not acceptable, Peter Schmuck writes. The O's have arranged for meetings with the rep for
a couple of Japanese pitchers.
• The Astros will be in the market for
middle-infield depth, writes Richard Justice, but don't look for anything dramatic from Houston.
• The Indians
added some pitching depth.
• The hot stove may not be burning strongly,
but it's still lit in Cincinnati, writes John Fay.
• The Braves
signed a backup catcher. The Braves are
failing to keep their farm system stocked, writes Furman Bisher.
•
Arbitration makes sense for the Red Sox and
Jason Varitek, writes Sean McAdam, but that doesn't mean it will happen.
• The Angels
signed a pitcher from Korea.
• The Mariners
demoted a couple of pitchers, writes John Hickey.
•
Khalil Greene is the
victim of lofty ambitions, writes Tim Sullivan. He felt like he
let the Padres down.
The most compelling question about the 2009 Padres is now this: How many fans will roll past their ticket-takers?
• The Cubs will be
sold by spring training, predicted their club chairman, within this Paul Sullivan piece. The team appears to have
room for a Jake Peavy deal, writes Gordon Wittenmyer.
Buster Olney
